A spate of armed attacks by pirates against Bahraini fishing boats in Gulf waters has beached many vessels whose owners and crew are now too scared to venture, newspapers reported Thursday, August 16.
"Around 60 of the large dhow owners refuse to take off to sea, even though the fishing sites in the Bahrain territorial seas are safe," Jassim Al-Jairan of Bahrain fishermen's society told the Gulf Daily News. "They are worried for their own safety and that of their crew because all their fish cages are just outside the Bahraini territorial waters," Jairan said.
The cages lie in waters where four Bahraini fishing dhows have been attacked by gun-toting pirates in the last two weeks. The pirates, who travel in speedboats and have been described as "clean-shaven, tall and fair-skinned", stripped the dhows of "everything, ranging from mobile phones and navigation equipment to their catch, clothes and, in one case, a propeller," the paper said. ― (AFP, Manama)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
